I am navigating deal boards in the lower middle market (<$10MM EBTIDA) and sought advice from the SF community on how to get the most out of them. Some disclaimers on my experience already:
** I know this is not the only way to search (although I know some searchers who have found great success with it ^Searchfunder member ^Searchfunder member). I know that proprietary searches are an important avenue too.
** I recognize it depends on your target universe - the smaller the niche, the harder it is.
** I know it can get expensive with the Axials of the world (e.g. $1k per month) but also recognize it is not bad to spend money wisely on a better product. (^Searchfunder member had a great share and notes BizBuySell Edge as a paid tool).
Thus, I would love to hear from others about their experience (NOTE: my search is in medical clinics / healthcare in the Southeast):
1. What are your favorite 2-3 boards you regularly monitor? I assume you set up automatic emails to make it easier.
2. What deal boards are you willing to pay to help you? (This is only about boards - not asking about intermediary searching services).
I would give a shout out to ^Searchfunder member/ BizNexus and ^Searchfunder member / DueDilio for their great services in this world, which I can attest to personally. If useful to you, Roman also has a useful post on it here: https://thebusinessinquirer.substack.com/p/deal-sourcing-guide-by-tbi?s=w.
Thanks a lot! I am happy to share what I get back from the community with those interested. Marc
Navigating Deal Boards - How to be serious about it without much time?
by a searcher from Stockholm School of Economics
More on Searchfunder
Searchfunder is an online community and toolkit for searchfunds. Over 80% of those involved in searchfunds maintain a Searchfunder.com account to help them network, problem solve challenges, and keep up with the industry.
We maintain partnerships with database providers that make searching more effective, efficient and affordable along with features that help searchers find deals and investors and vice versa.
We maintain partnerships with database providers that make searching more effective, efficient and affordable along with features that help searchers find deals and investors and vice versa.
Right now, my top three boards are bizquest, bizbuysell, Biznexus. This is likely volume rather than quality oriented.
The way I'm framing "boards' to myself is in a few ways:
1. Listing alerts - sent to me, passively reviewed, clicked through if interested
2. Visit boards - not all sites have alerts, so I have to visit on some basis
Both of this will go through some refinement as I learn.
3&$4 - I also augment this with broker outreach + paid proprietary. This means the third leg here is broker newsletters and broker sites, which can be classified as "boards" if you're stretching. And, the fourth is paid proprietary, which sends generic leads (i.e x5).
From what I've learned so far, this is how I manage my prioritize:
1. Brokered listings
2. Listing alerts
3. Proprietary search listings
4. Board visits
Hope this helps.